July 1: Worth a try

There is a combined study-army service program that has been in use for years called etudayi.

Letters 521.
(photo credit:Thinkstock/Imagebank)

Worth a try

Sir, – As a replacement for the Tal Law (“Coalition crisis brewing
over ‘Tal Law’ replacement,” June 28), a tried and proven system is already in
place.

There is a combined study-army service program that has been in use
for years called etudayi, where a person studies for six to seven months a year
and does army service for the remaining time.

They can do the same with
the ultra-Orthodox. I think it is worth a try.

DOV BET-ELJerusalem

Truth
in labeling

Sir, – While understanding the view of Alon Liel concerning the
labeling of products made in the West Bank as being made in Israel (“Ex-envoy to
South Africa supports settlement boycott,” June 28), I take strong exception to
one comment he made in his article in the South African newspaper.

The
Arabs here refused a state when offered one by the United Nations in 1947. The
only historical claim to the area is that of the Jewish nation, dating back
3,000 years. Thus, Liel’s statement, “I...

do my best not to buy Israeli
products from the occupied territories,” reveals an ignorance of historical
facts that is not expected of a former director-general of the Foreign
Ministry.

Whose territories are being occupied? Jordan’s? No, that
country’s annexation of the West Bank was not legal and it has since renounced
all claims to the area. Palestine? There is no such state, and the territory is
being administered pending a final resolution to the conflict.

Liel
should have suggested that the products be labeled, “Produced by Jewish and Arab
workers in Judea and Samaria.”

ROBYN ROTBERGKfar Saba

IRA priorities

Sir, – It should be noted that the IRA never demanded that Britain hand over
London, nor did it refuse to accept full Irish sovereignty unless millions of
Irishmen had the right to live in England (“Britain’s queen shakes hand of
ex-Irish Republican Army chief,” June 28).

YONATAN SILVER Jerusalem

Whose
is it?

Sir, – Thank you, Jerusalem Post, for your balanced editorial on the
distressing Ulpana issue (“Ulpana peace,” June 27), but I felt that you were way
off base in stating definitively that the land in question “belonged to a
Palestinian.”

According to the Israeli residents of Ulpana, the land was
purchased legally but the Palestinian seller kept it secret for fear of being
put to death by fellow Arabs for selling land to Jews. For many years the
supposed Arab owner did nothing as homes were built and Jews settled there, and
it was only when he was approached by Peace Now and persuaded to do so that he
came out with the claim that the land belonged to him.

Although a panel
of three Supreme Court justices (who are known to be against the settlements)
found in favor of the Arab claimant, the District Court, which is the only
judicial body mandated to decide such issues, has yet to reach a decision. In
such circumstances I don’t think one can declare positively that the land
belongs to a Palestinian.

RHONA YEMINIGivatayim

United front

Sir, – In
“US Jews’ retreat from Zionism” (Center Field, June 27), Gil Troy has authored a
most lucid, compelling and comprehensive explanation of contemporary Zionism,
the forces aligned against it, what it yet has to offer and the Jewish people’s
need for it.

In my opinion, he succeeded in touching all the bases and in
the end gave us a wonderfully constructed whole. I can only extend my sincerest
admiration and deepest gratitude.

RICHARD JACOBSHaifa

Sir, –
Anti-Zionists deny that Israel is a nation-state like others, insisting instead
that Zionism is a political movement that one is at liberty to support or
oppose.

In this way they seek to open the question of whether Israel has
the right to exist.

Gil Troy’s argument, that US Jews should position
themselves as supporters of Zionism, would tend, therefore, to help the anti-
Zionists in their relentless efforts to treat the legitimacy of Israel as a
question for endless debate.

It would be better to embrace the
straightforward liberal principle under which states that exist have the right
not to be conquered.

Jewish identity is complex, plural and diverse, and
we should defend our rights to continue to be Jewish in our own ways. Identity
does not need to be organized into a single “ism” and worldview complete with
accusations of cowardice against of those who fail to embrace it
correctly.

DAVID HIRSHLondon

Sour grapes

Sir, – While respectfully
mentioning the names of some of the guests at the state dinner for Russian
President Vladimir Putin in her Grapevine column of June 27 (“Partying with
Putin”), Greer Fay Cashman snidely writes that Interior Minister Eli Yishai was
there “with a bunch of his lackeys.”

I am shocked at the blatant
editorializing.

BRENDA BRONNERJerusalem

Friendly reminder

Sir, – Someone
should have reminded Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Israel
that the refusal of the world powers to recognize and act against the threats
posed by the Nazis early in their tenure resulted in the murder of not only six
million Jews, but 60 million human beings – Frenchmen, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch
people, Americans and others, including Russians (“Putin, Peres unveil Netanya
memorial honoring Red Army for fighting Nazis,” June 26).

It was not only
Russia that refrained from acting while Germany was threatening and
arming.

Britain, France, Holland, Norway and even far-off America also
paid the price for closing their eyes. That is the true lesson we can learn from
the drama of the 1930s and 1940s.

What begins in the Middle East or
Persian Gulf today will spread far and wide. Russia will not be immune to the
effects of a nuclearized Iran, even if its only victim is Israel.

YORAM
GETZLERAminadav

Two-way street

Sir, – Michael Freund, in “Kiss the Green Line
goodbye” (Fundamentally Freund, June 20), writes about the 722,000 settlers in
the West Bank and asserts that “the Green Line is dead and buried, and the Left
can kiss it goodbye. It is no longer of any relevance, politically or
otherwise.”

These are tough words.

Just one question: If the green
line is really dead and buried, is the blockade to movement being kissed goodbye
in both directions? Or is one of the two peoples still impeded at the border
while the other is free to move across? If the Green Line were really dead and
buried there would be free movement of people in both directions.

Freund
and other Post columnists who are getting carried away in their tingling
excitement for conquest, such as Caroline B. Glick and Martin Sherman, have a
decision to make: whether to talk impractically and unethically or urge that we
save our people.

JAMES ADLERCambridge, Massachusetts

I honk, I exist

Sir, – Why do Israelis love to honk their horns? Whether the traffic lights have
not changed fast enough or somebody’s driving is not up to par, or even if they
just want the world to know that they exist, they honk.

As I write this
the horns are honking frantically outside.

Where is the cop on the beat,
ready to make an example of these public nuisances with a hefty ticket?